Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1921. CHINA AND THE POWERS.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIII, Issue 2336, 1 October 1921, Page 2

Manawatu Herald SATURDAY, OCTOBER 1, 1921. CHINA AND THE POWERS.

DISCUSSING the attitude of the Washington Conference toward China, Mr B. Lenox-Simpson, adviser to the Chinese Government, wrote recently that China is densely populated, industrialised to a growing extent, full of money, and well able to take care of herself once certain principles have been laid down and accepted by the Western world.’ The Japanese, in spite of what the Lansing-lshii Notes seem to say, have no rights and interests in China different from those of other nations. The common policy on which the Powers should agree is to terminate once and for all the Chartered Company ideas which have dominated their commercial policy in China, and which live on under the false doctrine called the Open Door. For instance, in the matter of railways it should he laid down categorically that Chinese Government ownership and operation can have no exceptions, and that such enterprises as the Shantung Railway must be'ceded to China against- payment of a full indemnity. It is much better for Chinese to build and operate their railways with such foreign technical help as they care to enlist, no matter whether there ai’e leakages or not, than for foreign nations, on the score of efficiency, to meddle. For ultimately any waste will correct itself through moral and physical agencies working naturally; whereas the intervention of foreign Powers directly necessitates open conflict to redress the balance. It would also seem that a common policy regarding the four leased territories —Weihaiwei, Kiao Chao, Port Arthur, and the almost forgotten French territory of Kwangchowwan, in the extreme south —will be adopted, and all the leases allowed to fall in; municipalities to be erected to control the Towns which have sprung up during the 25 ytfars of their occupation. Britain ten years ago promised to restore Weihaiwei at an opportune

moment; that moment has obviously arrived. Chinese tariff autonomy on‘the basis laid down by the Mackay treaty of 1002 is also a sine qua non, i.e., 10 per cent, to 121 per cent, import duties, as in British Crown Colonies. The closing of all consular post otliees throughout Chinese territory is another essential reform. Disarmament must also be held to mean military evacuation where no title exists. There is no reason for foreign garrisons to be maintained on Chinese soil- to-day. .